2.3 A questioning sequence

A useful conversation can move through seven stages:

  1. Purpose: What decision or understanding is needed?
  2. Audience: Who will use the result, and what authority do they have?
  3. Meaning: How are important words defined in this organization?
  4. Evidence: What data and contextual knowledge are available?
  5. Constraints: What limits time, scope, privacy, resources, or implementation?
  6. Standards: What would count as a useful and credible result?
  7. Action: What could change if the evidence supports a conclusion?

These questions should be asked with genuine curiosity. The goal is to learn how the organization sees the problem while also identifying where evidence may be incomplete.

Worked Example: Clarifying NVRW’s Growth Concern

NVRW leaders report that several facilities feel busier and ask for a forecast of future demand.

The project team asks:

  • Does “demand” mean visits, unique users, registrations, wait-list requests, or occupied facility hours?
  • Are leaders concerned about total system capacity or particular locations and time periods?
  • Are recent increases caused by population growth, changes in utilization, new programs, or incomplete historical records?
  • Which future decisions depend on the projection?
  • What level of forecast error would materially change those decisions?

The conversation reveals that the central management question concerns whether evening program space should be expanded at two locations. This leads to analytical questions about registrations, capacity, wait lists, attendance, location, program category, season, and population growth.